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Philadelphia to Introduce Safe-Injection Sites

Published 01.23.18 1:11PM ET

REUTERS/Charles Mostoller

Philadelphia, the city with the highest opioid death rate out of all major U.S. cities, will introduce safe-injection sites—where people can shoot up drugs under medical supervision, according to city officials. This would make Philadelphia the first American city to establish such a program in an effort to decrease drug-related deaths. Safe-injection sites already exist in Canada and Europe, where they “have saved lives and public funds and reduced the public disorder associated with drug use.” Last year, the number of people who died in Philadelphia due to opioids was quadruple that of the city’s homicide rate.